Riyu's Reader
by Pheonix DeLoures
Summary: Cloud comes in contact with someone who can find out all of his secrets without even thinking about it. How will he deal? (R&R)
1. AfterMath

~Disclaimer. I own nothing!!! WwAUGH!!   
Hope you like this, it's gonna be one of my regulars.

  


**Aftermath**

  


  


Things are different now. No one is the same, and yet nothing changes. Four years have passed since the final battle, yet still I fight on. There is no rest for the weary.

  


Tifa still runs a bar, But she's more hard run about it. No screw ups, no fights. She's different, yet somehow not. She also found somebody. She loves him,and they are engaged to be married. She will make a beautiful bride in my opinion. Just not for me this time.

  


Barret went back to his daughter, and they haven't been happier. I stopped to see him the other day, and he was with her twenty-four seven. Would have been cute if it didn't make me sick. I had to leave immediately. On a less disgusting note, he also found someone who completes him, and Marlene likes her too, so they are happy.

  
  


Cait Sith is off, traveling the world, telling fortunes and bumming around with Cid. Boring. But that's just me.

  


Ack, don't get me started on Yuffie. Last I heard she was going off somewhere, hunting more Materia, I guess. But Vincent came back for her. Last time I saw him, he was on a quest to find her. He came to me, asking when I had last seen her, and if I knew where she was, but of course I didn't, and he left.

  


I don't know how he found me. I've been gone for a long time now.

So now, we have come to me. They have all changed. I haven't. Still the same old Cloud, same old problems. While they are all worring about significant others and work, I still watch my back for Sepheroth's blade. I know he is gone, but I am not convinced somehow.

I also wait for her. Most importantly, I I correct myself, I wait for her. She is gone. They told me that. Many times actually. Far more often than was necessary. But I won't accept it. Can't accept it. She is a part of me, as I know I am of her, and I will find her again.

So, on I search, looking, hoping, And I know I won't find her on this plane of existence, but I can't bring myself to force my way to another.

I carry my original sword around, as it reminds me of her. Can't believe I found it again, after all that traveling, but I have it again. Still dressed as I was the day I met her, I visit the church often. But she is not there. At least I think she isn't.

We came back, and were regaled as heroes, but it was all empty to me. She was gone, and she wasn't coming back. Now I walk throughout the world, searching, for nothing, fighting, for nothing, and living, for nothing but the day I will be with her again.

  
  



	2. Chapter 1

Ok, chapter one. uh... yeah.  


**Chapter One ** **(Riyu)**

He walked into the bar, sword slung to his back, and a hard look on his face, and ordered a beer. Immediately, I knew he had seen hard times, and lived to tell about it, but just barely. The way he walked made me think of those princes, off to save the princess, but something about him said he had been too late to stop the dragon.

I got up and sauntered over to him, slowly, measuring the distance between us, till it was at a bare minimum. "Hey, stranger. What brings you un'to these parts? Th'ain't been too many travelers through since the Materia scare way back." I drawled, dropping onto the stool next to him. The bartender puts his beer in front of him, and he wraps his battle worn hand around the mug. He turns his head away from me, and stares vacantly out the window. I try again. "Ya know, 'round here, Tain't esactly considered mannerly to ignore s'mone when they're a talkin' to ya." He looks away from the window, slowly turning to face me, to show he's not too interested. His fierce blue eyes met mine, and held my gaze as I was caught up in what he was saying.

"And what would it matter to me what's considered mannerly around here? It's not like I'm staying here too long, and I couldn't care less what you hicks think about me, so sod off." He turns back to his drink, nursing it slowly, like it's the first one he's had in a while, and it's the last one he's gonna have for an unown period of time. He blinks slowly and puts it back down and faces me again. "Look, I'm here for a beer, not a conversation. I don't need any friends, and I don't have any want for one. Now," he waves his hand haphazardly, shooing me away, "Leave me and my beer alone." He takes a long draught and gazes back out the window, having dismissed me. But I'm not one too be intimidated so easily.

"So, uh, Where ya from? Yain't from 'round these parts; I can tell, cause ya talk all proper-like." He sighs loudly and turns to look at me with his chilling blue eyes again. I shiver.

"Ack." he says softly, taking the last gulp from his glass and motioned for a refill. While the bartender busied himself with that, he inched his face closer to mine till our noses almost touched. "What do you want from me? I'm a lonely traveler..."

"But you haven't always been." I interrupt him, and his eyes, and the recoil of his body render his shock for the world to see. He is angered at his display of emotion, and that I witnessed it merely irritates him more.

"I am a lonely traveler." He repeats, eyes narrowing, and mouth slimming into a thin, tight line. "Always have been, always will be. I don't need your companionship, nor your pity. Stay out of my mind, Reader." He hissed his last sentence, picked up and drained his beer in one go, wiped his mouth and stalked out.

'How did he know?' I thought. 'I didn't give away any of the signs.' I attemped to sit and ponder it for a few minutes, just let him go, but I can't. I have to know how he knew. So I grab my cloak, and rush out the door, the dark fabric trailing after me.

  
  


**(Cloud)**

  
  


I walked from the bar, away from the woman who was a Reader. She had been dressed as a man, her Red hair cut short, almost fitting totally under her hat. But her deep purple eyes gave her away. One look at them, and I knew all there was to know about her. Readers are people who can look into your mind, and see all there is to a person. If you don't know how to keep them out, they can get in with ease. I've met many on my travels recently, and have learned to barricade them, but a really strong one would have no trouble. Its what they do. Lousy prying bastards.

  
  


In the past couple years, I've met and fought, won and conquered, and even lost my fair share of battles, But too many with Readers were failures. Monsters, I can handle it; Demons, bring it on; humans, No problem; But a Reader is a different story. To be honest with you, I can do it too. I've developed the talent from being around too much concentrated Materia.

She was a Materia Fighter, and a Reader too, able in both areas, but that was why I didn't want her around. Soon enough she would figure out I'm a reader too, and learn to block.

She came after me, I can hear her footsteps trailing as I walk. A sigh escapes my lips, I knew she would, And yet, I did nothing to prevent it. Am I getting soft? She catches up, panting hard, and gasps out her message to me.  
AN: Lame. I am lame. Oh well. Thanks for reading. More soon.  



End file.
